Channing Tatum's Latest Role Is So Hot, It Scalded Him

Channing Tatum has played tough guys before, but it took some extra grit to deal with a recent on-set accident that left him burned in an extremely sensitive area.

While filming the Roman battle flick The Eagle of the Ninth in Scotland, Tatum was rushed to hospital with – believe it or not – a scorched penis, after a technique to keep warm went horribly awry.

"It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life," the actor, 29, tells Details in its February issue. "I've been to the hospital, gotten stitches, had broken fingers and toes. But this was a suffocating kind of pain."

The accident occurred after Tatum had finished shooting a river scene in the icy waters of the Scottish Highlands. A crew member was supposed to pour warm water into his wetsuit to take away the chill, but inadvertently poured in scalding water instead.

The results weren't pretty. On the way to the hospital, Tatum told the driver, "You might have to knock me out, because I don't know if I can take the pain. Just grab something and hit me on the back of my head." Morphine did the trick instead, along with salves and bandages. Eventually, time healed all.

"I'm good … now," Tatum says. "One hundred percent recovered."

Life as a Stripper

Elsewhere in the interview, Tatum, who last July married actress Jenna Dewan, describes the time before he was famous, when he did a stint working as a stripper.

"I've been wanting to talk about this forever!" Tatum says, apparently sincerely. "I never wanted to hide it. I think it's hil-larious."

"I'm happy I did it," he adds. "I'm not proud, because it's not something to be proud of, but I had an experience that only one out of a thousand – a million – people can say they've ever had. I've been through this crazy sort of life, and I came out the other side fairly unscathed."